Stabat mater

A sequence (i.e. liturgical poem located
after the "Alleluia") that was once sung
by Catholics at Mass on the Friday
before Palm Sunday and on September
15, because on those days the Seven
Sorrows of Mary are Celebrated. Through
the centuries many composers have set
it to music.

The beginning is often translated into
English as follows:
"At the Cross, her station keeping/
Stood the mournful mother weeping/
Close by Jesus to the last."

A celebrated Latin hymn, beginning with these words, commemorating the sorrows of the mother of our Lord at the foot of the cross. It is read in the Mass of the Sorrows of the Virgin Mary, and is sung by Catholics when making "the way of the cross" (Via Crucis). See Station, 7 (c).